Turkish Cypriot side wants to know...

The head of the Greek Cypriot Nicos Anastasiades again won president election. He stated that his main goal is to unify Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The Production Director of the "Er Meydani" TV company in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Mustafa Akan answered Euraisa Diary's questions on what Turkish Cypriots think about Nicos's remarks and how much it is real.

Mustafa Akan said that Cyprus talks has failed upon the international conference at Crans Montana and there wasn’t any official talks ever since. Of course, the collapse of talks and the Presidential elections in the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus were the reasons of such outcome. The presidential elections were held last Sunday. Anastasiades and Malas run for the second round and the existing president Anastasiades was re-elected with the votes of 56%. The presidential elections were one of the reasons for the stable condition of Cyprus talks and the statements from the South Cyprus was important.

Hence the re-elected president Nicos Anastasiades stated that his first goal is to unite the Cyprus and he would want to meet with Mustafa Akıncı, the President of TRNC. This statement was embraced as prudently in the North Cyprus since the Greek Cypriot side kept coming to the negotiations table and continuing the talks without any settlement or accomplishment, which caused despair on the Turkish Cypriots. Both political parties and Akıncı stated that in the event of Cyprus talk to launch, the negotiations should be result-oriented and there must be a time restriction. So, what is time restriction? There will be a deadline and the talks would finish on that day. The other important thing is the situation of both sides after the end of talks. We, as the Turkish Cypriot side, come to the talks, discuss but no outcome is achieved. Then we leave the table as a unrecognized state but on the other hand the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus known as Cyprus continue to be internationally recognized. We say that this is majorly unfair and we would like to know what would happen to the Turkish Cypriot side in case of leaving the talks without any outcome. This is the reason of approaching the statement of Anastasiades cautiously.

On the other hand, there is a group reacting to Anastasiades because after he won the elections; he noted that he is now the president of whole Cyprus. This is not true as he has become the president of southern part of Cyprus, the Greek Cyprus Administration of Southern Cyprus. Mustafa Akıncı is the President of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Of course, the reason of his statement is that he is a president of internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, but the reality is not like that. If so, then the negotiations would not continue 50 years.

There is a problem and the Turkish Cypriot side is willing to solve this problem but the Greek Cypriot side does not feel as obliged for a settlement due to being recognized with international relations. However, the Turkish Cypriot side has to reach a settlement since they still live under embargoes and isolations; that’s why they are so willing to reach a settlement. The only expectation is to see the same willingness in the Greek Cypriots when they come for negotiations. There is no such thing as ignoring dialogue.

Yet, if the Cyprus talks will be re-launched, then Turkish Cypriot side wants to know the terms and target of the talks in addition to the outcome when that target is failed. Now, we believe that Anastasiades and Akıncı might come together for an informal meeting but right now, it is very difficult to foresee what would be the conditions for re-launching the official talks. Because as I told earlier, the Turkish Cypriot side wants a time restriction while the Greek Cypriot side doesn’t lean towards that direction. We will all wait and see the future of developments."